Horst Stemke (born March 4, 1942) is a retired U.S.

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

defender who was a member of the U.S. soccer team at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Youth

Born in Lubin, Germany, Stemke grew up in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

. He attended the

University of Wisconsin–Green Bay The University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (UW-Green Bay, UWGB, or Green Bay) is a public university in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with regional campuses in Marinette, Wisconsin, Marinette, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Shebo ...

, playing on the men's soccer team from 1970 to 1973. He was a 1972 honorable mention (third team) All American and was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Green Bay Hall of Fame in 1993.

Olympics

In 1967, he joined the U.S. Olympic Soccer Team for its ultimately unsuccessful qualification campaign for the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. He was called into the Olympic team for the

. This time around, he and his teammates made the Olympic tournament. He played all three games as the U.S. went 0–2–1. He ended his Olympic team career having played 16 total games with the team.

Coach

Stemke has spent several decades coaching in the Green Bay area. He was a founding member of the Green Bay Lightning Youth Soccer Club and coached at Preble High School. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Adult Soccer Association (WASA) Hall of Fame in 1989. His son,

Kevin Stemke Kevin Stemke (born November 23, 1978) is a former professional American football punter. Stemke was born in 1978 to Horst Stemke, a U.S. Olympic soccer player.

was an

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

punter for several years.Stemke Agrees to Terms: Should Realize Dream

References

1942 births People from Lubin Footballers from Lower Silesian Voivodeship German emigrants to the United States American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Soccer players from Wisconsin Sportspeople from Green Bay, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Green Bay alumni Michigan State Spartans men's soccer players Olympic soccer players for the United States Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Living people Men's association football defenders {{US-footy-bio-stub